Air India 182

Thursday April 9, 2009 at 8 pm on CBC-TV

On June 22, 1985, Air India flight 182 left Montreal en route to Delhi with 329 passengers aboard, most of them Canadian. Four hours later, an explosion in the baggage compartment destroyed the plane, killing all on board. Canada’s longest criminal investigation revealed the attack was the work of Sikh terrorists operating in British Columbia.

The RCMP interrogate Inderjit Singh Reyat (Gurpreet Singh Chana) at headquarters as other officers look on.

The powerful, intelligent and provocative film recounts the final hours, days and weeks before the plane disappeared off Irish radar screens. It reveals the story of how Canada’s first major counter-terrorism operation failed to thwart the conspiracy and lays bare the ‘perfect storm’ of errors that resulted in the world’s most lethal act of aviation terrorism before Sept. 11.

Filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson gained unprecedented access to those directly involved, including the families of those who died and to key CSIS and RCMP investigators. Court documents, de-classified CSIS reports and inquiry transcripts provide the factual framework for the dramatic reconstructions. Family members speak directly of their tragic loss and express outrage at the failure of Canadian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Inderjit Singh Reyat (Gurpreet Singh Chana) is handed dynamite for an explosion experiment in Vancouver.

“The conspiracy was Vancouver-based, most of the victims were Canadian and it has profound implications about the way we think of ourselves and the society we live in,” says Gunnarsson. “I hope this film goes some way toward distilling a very complex story and giving a voice to the Air India families, who are among the most gracious and dignified people I've met.”

AIR INDIA 182 is written and directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, and produced by Gunnarsson and David York. It was honoured at Hot Docs 2008 as the Festival’s Canadian Opening Presentation, where it was hailed as “compelling, poignant...the definitive film about the Air India tragedy and the most important documentary of the past few years.” AIR INDIA 182 is produced by 52 Media Inc. and Eurasia Motion Pictures Inc. in association with CBC Television.